Far from Fear
by gideondorf
Summary: Elsa and Kristoff are not nearly as different as they seem. Elsa/Kristoff, post-movie


Even with his heavy clothing, he shivered at the sudden drop in temperature in the room. He forced a chuckle, his breath fogging in the air.

Elsa did not meet his eyes. She wrung her hands together, her eyes firmly on the floor. Kristoff could understand why; the space beneath her feet was quickly freezing over.

"Are you alright?" He stepped away from her. "I just came to check to see if you were alright. Did I step in on anything?" His eyes flitted to the door, which was still slightly open. "You know, I think that I should be going. I still have some ice to sell, and I'm sure Sven will get into trouble with Olaf if I don't go find him soon."

"I'm fine." She looked up to him. Just as soon as the temperature had fallen, it rose once more. "Thank you."

"Oh," he replied. "Well, like I said, I really should get going. One time Sven nearly lost Olaf's nose, on accident of course. Still, they had all the servants in a rush, searching for the missing thing."

"I heard about it."

"Yeah." Kristoff's cheeks burned. "Of course you know."

Now he was just babbling. Still, she would have known; this was her castle.

"Really," he said, looking down to the icy ground, "I should be going."

"Stop."

Kristoff bit his lip. He looked to Elsa's lips, watching them move. The lips were always easier to look at than the eyes. Even with the trolls he could only look at their lips. If he looked into her eyes, he was not sure if he would ever be able to get them out.

"May I ask you something?" Her lips formed a straight line.

"Did I do something wrong? Have I been bringing in too little ice?" How did he always manage to forget that she was the queen of Arrandelle? He must have looked incredibly disrespectful this whole time.

If he could just get to the door...

"You touched me earlier," she said, "touched my shoulder."

He looked down to the floor again. What had he even done that for? Earlier, back before the room's temperature had dropped, there had been something that he had wanted to say to her. By then, however, he could not even remember what it was.

"Thank you?"

"Huh?" The question came out before he could think. "Oh, uh, I mean, you are quite welcome, your highness." He straightened his posture. "I am glad that it was of no offense to you."

Finally, he looked to her eyes.

She smiled. "Truly, thank you." She opened her arms. "Kristoff, may I hug you?"

For a moment, both were silent.

He nodded.

She stepped forward, her footsteps quick and light. Her hug was rather weak, far from the bear hugs that some of his troll brothers and sisters gave him. He returned it, putting just as gentle of a hold on him as her.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I just..."

He could hear the trolls singing in his head.

"I do not hug people often, or really touch them at all. This probably feels really weird to you because of that."

Elsa laughed. "Things are the same way for me." She frowned. "Most people accept me now, trust me as a ruler, but only you and Anna are the only people that want to touch me. Everyone else is still afraid of me, though I cannot blame them..."

The room's temperature dropped once more.

"I don't mind." Without thinking, Kristoff gently moved a white blond bang away from Elsa's eyes. "I work with ice all the time; I'm far from afraid of it."

The hug deepened.

"Hey," Kristoff said, then chuckled. "You're stronger than you look!"

The hug lasted a few moments longer, then broke apart. Elsa was still smiling as it ended, and a light snow had started falling in the room.

"Hey," he said, "I just want to tell you something."

"What?"

"Like I said, ice doesn't scare me."

"Not even the slightest?"

"What kind of an ice harvester would I be if it did?"

Suddenly, a crash rang throughout the kingdom.

"Sven, where's your nose?"

"That voice sounds familiar." Kristoff shook his head. "I should get going."

"Let me help you." Elsa stepped forward. "This sounds like it might be too big of a mission for you alone."

"We should get going."

He already knew that she was right.


End file.
